1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a device for recovering puncture repair liquid injected into a tire, and more specifically relates to a method and a device for recovering puncture repair liquid which make it possible to efficiently perform a recovery operation without cutting out a tire valve.
2. Background Information
In recent years, when a tire attached to a vehicle goes flat, puncture repair liquid is injected into the tire via a tire valve to thereby repair the puncture on an emergency basis and at the same time to fill the tire with air.
The method for repairing a puncture as described above, however, has the following problem. Specifically, the puncture repair liquid remains in the tire. Thus, when the tire is detached from a wheel to be replaced with a new one, the puncture repair liquid overflowed from the tire is smeared on equipment such as a tire changer.
Various methods for preventing the puncture repair liquid from overflowing are proposed as countermeasures for the problem. For example, a method has been proposed in Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2009-41006 in which an emulsion coagulant is injected into a tire to solidify a puncture repair liquid remaining therein, and the solidified puncture repair liquid is disposed of after the tire is detached from a wheel. However, this case exhibits a disadvantage that the emulsion coagulant is difficult to inject into the tire attached to the wheel.
Other methods have been proposed in Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2003-127242 and Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. Hei 10-67212 in which a tire valve is cut out from a wheel, a tube is inserted into the tire through a tire-valve attaching hole, and puncture repair liquid in the tire is drained through the tube. However, this case exhibits a disadvantage that the tire valve needs to be cut out and thus the tire valve cannot be reused.
Still another method has been proposed in Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2007-331210 in which a tube for forming a gas passage and a tube for forming a liquid passage are inserted into a tire valve, pressurized air is introduced into a tire through the gas passage while puncture repair liquid is drained from the tire through the liquid passage. However, this case exhibits a disadvantage that the draining requires a considerable time. This is because the need to insert the tube for forming the gas passage and the tube for forming the liquid passage into the tire valve inevitably leads to the need to make the liquid passage extremely narrow.